XCom Forced Recollections
by necronuk
Summary: An idea for a book that is totally based on the X-Com game. Tyler is a former base commander from the alien invasion 13 years ago. He is apprehended and interrogated and through the questioning process which involves the use of Alien mind probes we see the entire war through Tylers eyes.
1. Chapter 1

I heard the pop of the stun launcher a moment before the globe exploded and rendered me unconscious. When I awoke I found myself in a dim, grey room. The concrete walls, steel door and electrical lighting were all manmade, a good sign.

I remained laying on the bunk, gathering my thoughts, alien stun grenades did tend to leave you a little disoriented. Experience told me I had been out for about six hours so trying to guess my location was fruitless. In just six hours I could be moved literally anywhere in the world.

There were no restraints holding me in place and on looking around my sparse cell I spotted the camera watching me from its usual place in the upper corner. The room was typically military, devoid of decoration, totally utilitarian and painted in a desert colour only the forces would think to use.

I had no idea who had come for me or why, I could only surmise it was to do with my role during the Alien Incursion of 1999. I stretched and sat up and waited for them to come for me. Someone must have been monitoring my cell as I didn't have to wait long before I heard the approach of footsteps outside my door. An electronic pad beeped and the stainless steel door slid aside to reveal two armed troopers and a man in civilian dress, the black suit of anonymous officialdom. The troopers stood aside, their pulse weapons at the ready, they were wearing combats and light armour, and they had the bearing of veterans not actually expecting trouble but certainly anticipating it.

The civilian stepped into the cell and introduced himself, "Hello Mr Tyler, I am Dieter Franz, would you please accompany me to the interview room" I spent a moment assessing my captor, Dieter was incredibly tall and slender, with blonde hair and blue eyes, I guessed he was probably Scandinavian, maybe Swedish. The accent was barely noticeable.

He turned to exit the cell and I followed, curious to know what was going on but smart enough to know not to ask yet. I could sense the troopers fall in behind me; they kept a measured pace the entire time we traversed the complex.

The corridors we were in were the same desert yellow with coloured lines on the floor to assist with navigation in the complex. The air was dry and dusty and smelled of the desert, I was trying to figure out where I was. The halls seemed vaguely familiar though eerily empty with only the echo of our footfalls to keep us company. Soon enough we passed rooms that I did indeed recognise, we were in the lower levels of an old base developed by the X-Com group to respond to the Alien threat nearly 12 years ago. As far as I knew the ant farm, as we called it, had been mothballed after the invasion had been averted. This particular base was, if I remembered correctly, buried beneath the sands of Northern Iraq, near the small town of Erbil, it had allowed X-Com to protect Europe, the Middle east and North Africa. Alien forces had twice tried to take out the base and the personnel working here at the time, including me.

Dieter and the escorts deliberately avoided the residential levels and workshop areas; my guess was that they did not want me to see any other personnel here. We entered a service lift and I was eventually lead across one of the aircraft hangers, these hangers had once housed specially developed aircraft and it was here that repairs, maintenance and arming was done. The hanger had a number of ante rooms, stores and equipment rooms that kept the aircraft flightworthy. As we crossed the bay I noticed the smell of oil or grease and spotted new crates stacked near one of the store rooms. Looking around, the whole hanger appeared to have undergone some refurbishment work.

We passed through a small connecting corridor to a containment room. These rooms had once been used to interrogate alien captives, in each room stood a cell, constructed of non-ferrous alloys and armoured glass panels. Each containment cell sat in the centre of a reinforced concrete room and was surrounded by a mesh faraday cage to prevent any form of electro-magnetic signal getting into or out from the alien occupant.

The cells were devoid of any of the usual equipment except for a table and chairs; I did notice the containment protocol was still in place. The gas lines and igniters were attached to the exterior of the cell ready to incinerate the occupant should the need arise. They looked new and I had to wonder why they had been replaced and for what reason could they possibly be needed for now.

We entered the room and I sat facing Dieter. The furniture was not usual for the cell, and had been brought in to replace the equipment that would have once been here. The table was non-descript and the chairs were standard polypropylene, probably from the dining area. I made myself as comfortable as I could and asked "Ok, why am I here?"

Dieter looked at me and paused before answering, "We need to ascertain your psychological state of mind and whether or not you were compromised during the attacks on this planet."

I was stunned, "How the hell can you question my state of mind, I take it you know what I did back then? And what do you mean compromised, in what way?" I was suddenly angry, I leapt to my feet and leant over the table, my hands planted firmly on its cool surface, "how could you dare have the audacity to doubt me or indeed any of us after everything we went through."

He beckoned at the overhead camera and a combat clad aide came to the cell with a small black case, the reinforced plastic type used for carrying delicate equipment. I glared at him before retaking my seat. Dieter dismissed the soldier, opened the case and turned it to face me. "Do you recognise these objects?"

In the case before me, nestled in the sponge cut-outs were two items of tech developed from research into the alien telepathic abilities. The small globe or sphere was a mind probe; it was about four inches across and was made from the same alloys used in the construction of the alien spacecraft hulls. Inside it was intricate circuitry that used the element Elerium 115, not found on earth, as a source of power. It was used to garner information directly from the memory centres of the brain. It allowed us to retrieve tactical data during battles but also allowed us to communicate with the Aliens in a rudimentary way. The second object was a Psi-Amp. We developed this to enhance our own innate Psi powers, it had had mixed success and the people who could use them had to undergo rigorous testing and training. The most useful application of the Psi-Amp had been to induce feelings of fear, terror and panic in prisoners undergoing interrogation. In some rare instances we had even been able to directly control the actions of some subjects.

The objects worked on both human and alien physiologies but the Alien resistance to the devices was much higher than human. Human brain functions worked on a more emotional level and were therefore more susceptible to its effects.

I nodded my assent and asked why he was showing them to me, knowing full well that they would be used in my so called assessment. They would allow the questioner, I assume Dieter, to monitor my emotional state and dig into my memories to get all the detail and uncover anything I may be trying to hide. The probe was non-intrusive but there were side effects from its influence.

In an adjacent room there would be a team of people watching images from my mind appear on a screen and they would analyse my thoughts and actions as the probe retrieved them. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to facilitate this so called interview.

The aide returned, this time carrying an archive box, he placed it on the table with a thump and removed the lid. The box was filled with files, mostly incident reports. I had written enough of them in the past to recognise them and actually spotted my writing on the corner of one of the files.

Dieter pulled one of the documents and asked me to describe the events of September 3rd 1998. I actually laughed, that was my first alien encounter. How was I supposed to recall all the details for events from 13 years ago? Even with the mind probe, the time frame was too large. Besides, everything was in the reports; I couldn't imagine I had anything more to add.

"The mind probe has been refined since you left X-Com, we can rerun, in detail, the events in your memory. All you need to do is relax, listen to my voice and remember what you can; the probe will do the rest."

He began reading and I took a deep breath and tried to recall the events of Sept 3 1998…

There had been numerous reports and media scares regarding abductions and livestock mutilations in a small farming community in Berkshire. There had even been a reported sighting of a landed spacecraft near the outskirts of Newbury. The local community and government were concerned and the area had been cordoned off by the military. I had been part of the guard detail and we were patrolling the area to keep out people trying to get a look at supposed UFO's. The hysteria had attracted all sorts of people as well as the press, all wanting to know the truth. There were even people wanting to rid the earth of alien invaders, ironic that a few years ago the same hippies had been happy clappy peace protesters down the road at Greenham Common.

I recalled moving along a track bordering a field in which sheep were ambling about, I still don't know if the bloody things sleep or not. It was late evening and was a pleasant enough end to a boring day, nobody enjoyed 'stagging on' but guard duty was a necessary evil of military life. I heard a noise behind me and turned to face my oppo, expecting to see Woody, who was about ten meters back. Woody was six feet of solid muscle, an Army PT instructor and a weapons engineer. He was motionless, staring open mouthed at the little grey figure that had stepped onto the track between us. It was looking at him and I think it may have been as surprised as he was.

I slowly and quietly brought my weapon into the aim and zeroed in on the things head; unsure as to what I should do, I observed it through my sights. It had a bulbous, hairless head and was about two feet high, I couldn't be sure as it was on its haunches with one of its front limbs raised. The skin was grey and leathery and its two arms and legs looked rather spindly, it had on some form of harness or webbing. It was wearing nothing else and appeared to have an item of equipment fastened to its arm but I could not see clearly from my vantage point. I managed a quick glance at Woody and in that moment the thing moved its arm and pointed an object at him. I watched him dive out of the way as the creature fired a small glowing ball of energy at him.

I immediately fired three quick rounds of 5.56mm into its back but the thing whirled round to take a shot at me, I fired another couple of rounds in quick succession and watched it fall, dark blood oozing from the wounds I had managed to inflict. It had large eyes, no mouth or visible means of reproduction and it had had a definite glow emanating from its chest which faded as it died.

Woody stepped up to the creature, looked at its weapon and then kicked it in the head for good measure, swearing at it as he did so.

I was already down on one knee, making sure there were no more of the things lurking in the hedgerow. He too crouched and checked his arcs of fire and we listened for anything unusual.

The radio came to life "All Call-signs, this is Zero, firing call-sign report in"

I looked at Stu and shrugged, we had to report in so I thumbed my pressel switch, "Hello Zero this is Echo-Two-Three-Alpha, contact wait out" That would give us a bit of time to clear our heads and they would wait for more information.

I waved Woody over and we moved off the track into some light cover, our combats blending into the greenery of the hedgerow. We paused again, listening and watching. I leaned close to him and whispered.

"You ok?"

He shook his head, "Dunno what happened mate, it stepped out and I couldn't move, I felt really odd until it moved. I saw it raise its weapon and just jumped. What the hell did it fire at me; I felt the heat of it as it passed me so it must have been close"

"Where did it come from? I must have walked right by it."

"It stepped out from that gap in the hedge, just appeared right in front of me, I thought it was an animal at first."

"OK, we'll take a quick look and call in for some help."

Woody provided cover as I headed for the gap he had pointed out. I found a suitable spot and covered for him as he moved into position. We waited a few seconds before ducking through the foliage into the field beyond. As well as the sheep and the odd lone oak there was a UFO. I mean a real flying saucer, on a tripod standing there, large as life. Nearby were the still, bloody remains of a sheep that looked as if it had been dissected.

"I guess the little chap was looking for mint sauce then." I grinned at him and he promptly gave me the finger. I guess he was still a little shaken from almost getting shot by god knows what.

We circled the saucer, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was about three meters in diameter, conical shaped and the legs were about 2 meters tall. It was a pale grey in colour with no form of markings or identification. We had a quick look around to be certain there were no more occupants about and I got on the radio to the command point and requested immediate backup.

The QRF team must have been itching to move as they arrived pretty quickly, we covered the alien body in a poncho and placed it in the back of the Landover. All the team were taking it in turns to look over the saucer and speculate as to where it had come from.

We heard more vehicles arriving and before long we were ushered off to headquarters for a full debriefing. In the meantime all the evidence of the incident was recovered and removed.

I blinked and was back in the interview cell; Dieter had switched of the mind probe. A dull ache began to manifest in my head and I rubbed my temples.

"Do you think that you or Corporal Woods were under any form of Alien influence at any time during that encounter?"

"No, can I get some water and an aspirin please?"

"Did he not state that he couldn't move and that he felt 'really odd' at the time of the encounter?"

"People freeze when presented with situations they are not familiar with; it takes a second or two for their minds to process what they are dealing with."

"Abductees often say that they could not move and feel strange at the time of abduction, in your experience with X-Com, have you ever felt this way?"

"Again, No, I have seen the effects of mind control and this was not one of those times. You have to remember that this was the first time anyone had seen a Sectoid, we didn't even know what it was at the time."

Dieter looked at his notes, "So you were eventually taken to Area 51 where you became part of X-Com and spent six months investigating reports and sightings. I see that public interest increased and it was decided to set you up in a new secret base outside of western press reach. Under the pretext of oil exploration, a base was created near Erbil in Northern Iraq."

I nodded, "Strategically, it allowed us to monitor and intervene in Alien activity in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe. Eventually we had to build other bases but you know this already, Why the history lesson?"

The aide reappeared with my water but there was no aspirin.

"We are drawing on early memories to determine a base line, that way we can ascertain if there were any sudden changes in your mind-set."

I looked him in the eye and asked "And if there are?"

He shrugged, ever so slightly and said "Surgery"

My jaw dropped, "you mean Lobotomised, I heard rumours that this was going on with agents that had been mind-controlled but I never believed it. I was told they were debriefed and removed from active duty. In fact I know they were"

"Many were, some were merely spooked by the Aliens and panicked but a few were under direct alien control for a prolonged period. These were the ones that needed direct intervention."

"Direct Intervention! It would have been better to put a bullet in them than to cut out half of their brains, I am sure the others would say the same, how could you be so barbaric!" I was by now enraged, standing and facing him over the table with both hands balled into fists at my side. "If I had known what you were going to do to them, I'd have shot them myself to save them from what you did, they would have thanked me for doing it too."

Dieter waited until I had calmed down and resumed sitting, the pain in my head was getting worse "I am not here to discuss ethics with you. What is past is past, we have questions and we will get the answers we need."

"How many others have you interviewed and used 'direct intervention' on before getting to me?"

"You are the only one we are questioning at this time."

He pulled another file and switched on the Mind probe...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The mind probe reached deep into my mind and I found myself back in the scrubland of Kenya. I had been part of X-Com for three months now and had been involved in some unbelievable work. The science team at Erbil had been working hard to reverse engineer some of the alien technology so we could use it against them. They had already provided us with information on the Sectoids, the feral grey aliens that were conducting raids on our planet.

The Sectoids appeared to be genetically engineered from another species, of which we had no intel, and they had few internal organs; which made them hard to kill with conventional weapons as you needed to hit something telling to put them down. We knew they could communicate telepathically and believed they were controlled by a more advanced species. They were susceptible to blast weapons, and grenades were excellent at taking them out. We had been quite successful against them recently and had captured a number of weapons, items of equipment as well as a few of their smaller craft. We were beginning to get an idea of how to fight them and keep them from taking control of our planet.

The larger craft that humanity has encountered so far have weapons that can easily take out our fighters and we were trying hard to force one down. We were desperate to get our hands on the craft weapons just to level the playing field and get some payback. The scientists wanted to understand how their navigation and propulsion systems worked but we needed the weaponry first. The sheer frustration at our current lack of success in this field was beginning to tell and certain governments were beginning to question the need to fund what they saw as a failing endeavour.

So far we had developed an understanding of the alien alloys and the elemental power source of their craft. We had used this information to develop better body armour which was currently being manufactured and tested. We were hoping to get this new armour within the next few days. The general feeling was that this was a good thing; conventional armour was not too effective against the alien weaponry. Inroads had also been made into the weapons they were using against us, they were plasma based and so far we had not been able to develop them for human use. We were however armed with the latest in Laser technology and were using this for the first time. My team had a number of pistols and a couple of laser rifles as well as the usual assortment of projectile weapons and grenade launchers.

We had some extra team members with us on this particular mission, there were sixteen of us in total because finally one of the larger Alien craft had actually landed in the Samburu game reserve in Kenya. We could only assume they were interested in the wildlife. Our aircraft had dropped us about 5 kilometres from the Alien landing site at a place called Archers Post. It was four in the morning local time; we had about two hours to get to the site before the sun came up.

Our mission brief was to eliminate the Sectoids in the immediate area, enter the vessel and kill or capture the occupants thus securing the ship and its technology for our science teams.

We moved west along the gravel road that ran into and through the game reserve and parallel to the Uaso Ngiro River. There was a lot of game around the area of the river, this part of Kenya was officially classed as arid and the river was the life blood of the region. We moved cautiously and slowly as we neared the site, the local game sensing our presence would suddenly go crashing through the scrub and raise our tension levels. Hyenas would cross the path in front of us and pause to look us over before disappearing into the night. All we saw of them was the light reflected in their eyes and their dark outline. They kept low to the ground and moved in a way remarkably similar to the Sectoids. Thankfully Sectoids had a bio luminescence organ that literally made their chests glow and made them easy to identify in the night time confusion.

We got to within a kilometre of the ship and could see it from the vantage point we had reached overlooking the vicinity. It was larger than anything I had seen before; it looked to be two tiers high and was the same silvery blue as the smaller vessels we had encountered. The shape appeared to be a cross between a star and an octagon. The entry door, as we found out, was on one of the eight large faces of the hull.

Although the sun was not yet up the sky was definitely lightening and already I could feel the heat building. The group was to split into two teams, one to move around the left of the vessel and one to go right. We would clear the immediate area around the craft and meet up again before assaulting the ship itself. We scanned the area with bino's but could make out no sign of the Sectoids. There were a few barn type structures and out buildings in the vicinity and we decided to use these to cover our approach.

On the flight here from Erbil, we had been briefed on the breakdown of the teams, weapons loadouts and proposed scenarios. Captain Horton would command fire team alpha with Lt. Buchard, Sgt's Okabe and Kemp, Privates Louis, Davidson, Vogel and Samuels. I would join fire team Bravo commanded by Capt. Bailey, with us would be Corporal Austin King known as A-K, Privates Iwasaki, Marcelle, Gallagher, Smith and Thomas. Each team would break down into pairs and provide protective fire for each other as we moved from cover to cover. The Laser weapons were split between pairs to give maximum chance of using them against the enemy. They had been tested on Sectoid tissue and were said to be effective; we had plenty of back up weapons just in case.

We began moving off, Alpha team using some low ground to cover their movements as they moved towards an intervening hillock. We moved north, using the scrub and a wooden barn to hide our approach. We moved towards the nearest shed as the sun crested the horizon, the light and heat hit us like napalm. Within seconds I was soaked in sweat, I could feel it running from under my helmet and before long it began to sting my eyes. It got to the stage where I had to pause to wipe it from my face and clear my vision.

Our team was nearing the rear of one of the wooden structures, it was rough and ready and rather ramshackle with gaps in the aging timbers, it looked about ready to collapse. Taking it out would be a waste of a grenade, a good kick would probably bring it down. The team leader, Capt. Bailey, identified a window on the right hand wall as a vantage point to see inside and using hand signals, took three men to the right and sent the remaining four of us to the left of the building. The light was intense and I was glad to get into the shade just so I could see where I was going and what was ahead. I approached the corner of the building and had a quick look around to see what was there. Apart from the doorway the area was empty. I guess the rest of the team had cleared the window as I saw A-K poke his head around the far corner, our eyes met and I nodded. I waved Marcelle and Gallagher round to the door and they were joined by two members of the team from the right. I beckoned Smith to cover me and we moved to the left to watch over the direction of the ship in case anything came along while the team were clearing the shed.

The sound of gunfire from my far left had me swing my head to look towards the hill where Alpha team were making their approach; my body tensed and I could feel my pulse quicken. The sweat on my back suddenly felt cold and I took a slow deep breath to calm my nerves in readiness for combat. I slipped my finger from the trigger guard of my weapon and placed it gently onto the trigger itself. Alpha team must have come across a Sectoid Patrol and I heard the sound of a laser weapon firing, its distinctive sound caused by the energy beam flash boiling moisture in the air. Despite the area being dry as hell, there must be some moisture here as we were in the vicinity of a river. Alpha team must have hit something as I saw a plasma bolt arc into the air above the hill.

The inter section radio came to life and I heard Alpha team shouting for a medic and someone, I think it was Louis but it could have been Buchard, their French accents sounded too similar on the radio, telling us that the commander was down, I heard something about a plasma hit and the enemy not being a Sectoid but something else.

We moved at a run to a hollow and hit the dirt in all round defence; Bailey was trying to get hold of Alpha team's second in command, Lt. Buchard, to find out what we were up against. We lay in the dust in an outward facing circle covering all angles, from my vantage point I could see the alien vessel to the south west. To the west there was a scrub fence with a gate that encircled a small field. There was a barn at the right hand end and I could smell the manure being used to fertilise the soil. The rest of the team covered their arcs and we listened in as Buchard told Capt. Bailey about the encounter. As it was an inter section channel, free speech was permissible, speed necessitated it in an operation as veiled speech and code would only slow down operations or be totally misinterpreted.

"Alpha two this is Bravo one, sitrep, over, Pierre, what the hell is going on, do you need assistance? Over"

We could hear Pierre clearly and he sounded a little shaken.

"This is Alpha two, Alpha One is down, plasma shot, enemy is not Sectoid, I say again, enemy is not Sectoid."

"Roger Alpha two, what are we up against here?"

"Some sort of serpent creature, looks like Medusa but without the hair. It seems to be tougher than Sectoids and has body armour. In fact the thing is totally different in every way. Weapons were effective against it though, including the new guns."

"Roger Alpha, how is the Captain, over?" We knew from the tone of his voice that he expected the worst answer but it was still a blow to us all when he got it.

"The Captain is gone, these new creatures are bigger, tougher and faster than Seccies, we were all taken by surprise and it just reacted quicker than he did. Took a few rounds and a laser hit to drop it too so be careful when you meet one."

"Roger Alpha Two, Bravo Out." There was nothing more to say, we would grieve the loss later but we had a job in hand and needed to focus on it.

Captain Bailey moved to the middle of the team, "Watch your arcs and listen in, we are up against a new enemy here, one we have not seen before and we should pull out to gather Intel as to what the hell they are. However, we need that ship and all it contains to give us a fighting chance against these bastards, so we are going to continue with the mission and give these snaky freaks a kicking they won't ever forget. We need to move carefully and we need to be quick, they know we are here and we won't have much time to do this before they decide to leave. Keep low and work in your pairs, if it doesn't have legs, kill it."

"Sgt Tyler, take A-K, Smith and Thomas and clear that copse." He pointed out a small group of trees to the west of our position about fifty metres away. "Cover that gate and the approach to the ship. I will take the others and clear the building and the field, with luck we should come out of that gate and follow the ditch along the fence line to the front of the craft."

I looked at where he was indicating, the light was reflecting from the ground and making me squint; I wiped my eyes again and pulled down my sunglasses, Wiley-X standard issue, I wasn't over keen on them as I found that they sealed too well over my eyes and the actual moisture from my eyeballs would condense on the lenses and mist them up. They were ok for a short time though and I used them to see where the Captain was pointing. From the corner of the field he intended to reach he would have a good view of the alien ship and be able to lay fire on anything that came out of the airlock.

We began to move towards the copse, Thommo ran forward at a low crouch to a rock that would provide protection for him. He would then cover me while I moved to a similar boulder and so on until we reached the edge of the trees. As I got into a kneeling position I caught sight of movement from the corner of my eye and spotted one of the snake men in the field that the rest of the team were headed for.

"Bravo Two, enemy to your front, definitely one of them, moving in the field towards the gate," looking around I spotted two more, one on the other side of the trees and one lurking by the alien ship. I brought my weapon up and fired three successive rounds through the scrub at the target on the other side. Thommo added additional rounds and the creature went down.

A-K and Smithy had taken position to our left and opened up on the one by the corner of the ship, it returned fire and I saw A-K duck down out of the way as the plasma bolt passed overhead. Thommo moved forward a few meters to get a clearer shot and sent a burst of rounds at the Alien. The shots hit the creature but appeared to have no visible effect, it swung around and fired back at him but the shot went wide. A bright line of laser fire from Smithy's weapon connected with the Snake man and it toppled over onto its side. Its serpentine tail thrashed the ground for a few seconds, writhing and whipping the dirt with its death throes. A cloud of disturbed dust shrouded the creature as it died.

I got on the radio and let my team leader know we were in position and that there were two dead enemies, I also told him we could no longer see the one in the field. I received his acknowledgement and got Thommo to watch the gate to the right in case the snake like creature showed up there.

I watched as the commander moved his men to the edge of the field and saw one of them lob a grenade over the fence, a second later the grenade exploded. One of the team went over the fence and disappeared from view, I heard a prolonged burst of automatic fire and the rest of the team headed into the field. I guess they got the lurker.

A minute later the four men exited the gate and moved into the ditch, they headed west to the corner of the fenced section and spread out. A Snake man appeared from the orchard to the left of where they were taking up positions and fired at them, I tried to warn them on the radio but was too late, the shot hit one of the team and I saw him fall to his knees. A laser beam from the far side of the ship hit and fried the assailant. We heard a second or two later that Private Marcelle had been wounded.

Alpha team were directed into the orchard area and to take up positions overlooking the entrance to the ship. My three and I were to move to the nearside of the alien vessel and be available to assault as and when required. We moved forwards carefully using what we could as cover just in case and we passed one of the dead aliens on the way.

Its tail was definitely reptilian, its arms were heavily muscled and its head had what appeared to be a heavy and solid looking skull. Its upper torso and shoulders were encased in some form of armour but its weapon was the same as the Sectoid ones we had captured. I frowned at this trying to analyse the similarity, were they part of the same species, and were these then, the creators of the Sectoids. I could smell the odour of the creature, like old cabbage and screwed up my face, glad to get away I moved into my position near the ship.

I looked up and just momentarily I was back in the cell looking at Dieter. He was manipulating the Mind Probe but also had something else in his hand, something I did not recognise. He caught me watching him and made an adjustment to the probe.

I was suddenly back in Kenya, all thoughts of Dieter and devices gone from my mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

By now I was hot, dusty and sweating, my combat shirt was wringing wet and sticking to my back. The heat was increasing and the nerves were beginning to kick in. I could feel my hand was shaking as I fed the spout from my water dispenser into my mouth. I sucked in a couple of mouthfuls and felt the cool water wash away the dryness in my mouth and throat. Once I had stowed the tube I unclipped the mag from my weapon and checked the load, nearly full. I reloaded and gestured for Thommo to change his. I knew he had fired a lot more rounds than I had but he had already done it, the discharged magazine already stowed in his gear.

I heard the sound of a door opening; an electrical, sliding door, and chanced a look around the edge of the ship. I was just in time to see one of the beings slide out of the ship before it disappeared in a cloud of dust and gore as multiple weapons fired at it. Someone must have fired a 40mm grenade through the doorway as I heard it explode within the ship and felt the vibration through the hull I was leaning against.

"MOVE!" That one word from the captain galvanised us into motion.

I brought my rifle butt into my shoulder, leaned against the hull for support and began to move towards the doorway. Every sense and nerve focused on the gap ahead of me, if anything showed so much as a scale I would open fire. I thumbed my change lever to full auto in readiness, behind me the other members of my section were ready to burst into the vessel right after me.

I reached the doorway and could see nothing inside to the right; I crouched and swept in through the opening moving right to left. There were no live aliens in the entry way, the grenade had killed two inside the doorway. I focused on the door at the opposite side of this small room while my team entered and took up positions that gave them the best protection from anything coming in from ahead. I could feel the tension in my shoulders and flexed then to ease them off. I also noticed that it was quite cool in here.

I activated my radio and let the other teams know that the entryway was clear. There was no need to wait for a reply; I knew they were already heading for the door to back us up.

I motioned for Thommo to check the inner door and it opened before he got to it, the door must be motion sensitive or have a proximity sensor, thankfully there was nothing beyond,. We entered an inner room that had a door on the opposite wall. The walls were covered in screens, panels and bits of equipment and machinery. In the middle of the room was a table, a dias and a computer or control system. We approached the far door and it too opened automatically, we spread out in our pairs to check the lower level of the ship. I moved to the right and worked with Thommo to clear the many alcoves built into the outer hull of the ship. We came across seating areas, storerooms and even one of the Elerium engines that powered the vessels. Eventually we came to a dead end and started to turn back. We had found no trace of occupants, any ramps or stairs to the upper levels. There was a lot of equipment on board but we decided not to touch any of it, this was the domain of the scientists.

We heard a shout and ran back the way we had come, past the entry door and round to the left of the interior, I spotted another engine in an alcove similar to the one we had cleared on the opposite side of the ship. We arrived at a small, illuminated alcove just in time to see a pair of boots disappear into or through the decking above.

I stared in disbelief as, a couple of seconds later, Pte. Vogel reappeared, feet first, from the ceiling.

"Find cover, they're coming" He ducked out of the way in case the creatures tried firing at him.

We immediately spread out and took up positions that allowed us to lay down fire on the elevator portal. Vogel gave us a quick rundown on what had occurred.

"I stepped into the alcove to see where the light was coming from and as I looked up I suddenly became lighter and began to float upwards. I was on the floor above and was trying to figure out how to get back down when one of the Snake things came around the corner. I dropped into the kneeling position to take a shot but felt myself floating down and here I am"

One of the Snake men was coming down the elevator and we fired at it, its lower half was shredded and the bloody remains dropped to the floor with a wet thud. We waited for more to arrive but none appeared. If there was an Alien up there, was it waiting to do to us what we had just done to its colleague?

I tilted my weapon over to the side and checked the ammo readout, over half full, "ok you lot, ammo check. Has anyone seen another of these alcoves, is there another way up?"

Private Samuels voice came over the radio, his thick Texan accent easily identifying him, "Marcelle is stable but will need evacuating soon." He was the team medic and had remained outside with Davidson to look after the wounded Frenchman.

Capt Bailey followed up with a call for us to get this done quickly so we could get out of here and see to our casualties. We split up again, three men watching the elevator device and the rest of us checking through the ship again for another lift. We came up blank and returned to our positions back at the elevator alcove.

I recall waiting for a couple of minutes for something to happen and eventually Capt Bailey came over the air asking for a couple of volunteers to 'ascend the Grav-lift and establish a safe zone for the rest of us. I looked at Thommo and shrugged; if anyone was going to do it, it might as well be me. I jerked my head towards the lift and saw him roll his eyes before nodding.

"Tyler and Thomas moving in, stand-by" I released the radio and took a firm grip on my weapon; my palms were warm against the grip. I checked the safety and change lever and went through all the other pre combat checks again.

I approached the lift device, the Captains name, Grav-lift, seemed appropriate, and kept my weapon trained on the patch of roof where it would allow me to reach the upper level. I knew Thommo's weapon would be aimed at the same spot. The ceiling panel was similar to the rest but emanated light differently. Most of the panels in the ship gave off light, the lift panel illumination though, was not as bright and appeared to fluctuate or sparkle a little.

One last look around, I caught the eye of Sgt Dave Kemp, he gave me the thumbs up for luck as I entered the alcove. I waited there for a second or two. Nothing happened. Then I recalled what Vogel had said and I stood, looking up. I immediately felt myself lift and prepared to fire the moment I arrived.

I was in a corresponding alcove and could see a corridor ahead of me with more alcoves in the outer hull that mirrored the ones below. I moved right to allow those below to access the lift and could see that the right side of the ship was similar to the left, as far as I could tell anyway. So far the upper floor was free of aliens.

I moved quickly to the far side of the corridor and knelt at the corner of an inner bulkhead, watching the area ahead of me. I could see into the store area at my one o'clock position and motioned Thommo into it. From there he should have a good field of fire around the next corner.

Behind me I could hear other team mates moving into position and clearing the left hand corridor areas. A-K and Gallagher moved up beside me and once they were in position, I moved on to the next corner. I was just about to wave Thommo forwards when I had to dive into the alcove to my right to avoid the snake man firing at me from beyond the bulkhead I was at. Before I could find my feet, three weapons burst into life and the creature was torn apart from multiple hits. I glanced down the next section of the ship and saw two more of them, one with what looked to be a heavy weapon. I raised my fist and halted the teams advance, pointing to my eyes and holding up two fingers I gave the universal indication that I had seen two enemies. I decided not to take any chances and primed a grenade. I tossed the fragmentation grenade round the corner and heard it roll down the corridor towards the enemy. The resulting blast killed one immediately but the second appeared unharmed and tried to fire its weapon at me. The shots went so wide I suspected it to be injured and unable to aim properly. Having no such disability, I took careful aim and shot it in the head, the top of its skull blew out and it's brain matter followed, spraying the wall and ceiling of the hull in gore. It dropped its weapon and fell against the hull before sliding to the floor.

I heard over the radio that the teams moving left around the vessel had come to a similar dead end as I had found below. They were now heading back towards the Grav-lift and would follow us. We had as yet not seen any doors to the inner area of this part of the ship. I could see the next set of corner bulkheads and alcoves and surmised that the entrance had to be around there somewhere.

The move forward continued without hindrance and we found the door we hoped would lead us into the area we had just circumvented. Gallagher and A-K took up flanking positions by the door and Thommo positioned himself in the recess opposite. To the right of the door was a small recessed wall that blocked off the corridor, this wall must have been the one that prevented the rest of the team from getting to this area from their end.

Keeping very low, I approached the door and as it opened I could see a lone Snake-man, his armour was a different colour and seemed to shimmer. It ducked down behind some intervening seating which prevented me from getting a clear shot at it. I moved to my left and kept my weapon pointed at the area it was lurking in. The room was filled with seating, displays and control consoles. I decided this must be the ships bridge or command centre.

A-K followed me in and moved to the right; the creature reappeared from behind the furniture, raised itself to its full height and fired its weapon at him as we both fired at it. Our small arms fire had little visible effect but the bolt of energy from its plasma weapon hit A-K and blasted him from his feet. I watched him die even as the creature turned to engage me. I felt frustration and rage suddenly explode inside of me and yelled as I opened fire once more. I kept shooting, willing it to go down and the rest of the team outside added their weaponry and eventually the alien succumbed and fell.

I ceased fire and ran to A-K to see if there was any chance that he might still be alive but the shot had burned right through his torso, melting his organs and cauterising the wound. The smell of roasted flesh will remain with me forever. I vowed that while I was still alive every alien would be a target and they would learn to fear the human race.

Dieter switched off the probe and my mind leaped back to reality, my body rebelled and I found myself retching and coughing. I could still feel the emotion of A-K's death and could still smell the stench of his burned body. My head hurt like hell, my eyes were stinging and a drop of blood landed on my thigh. I wiped my nose to clear the blood away and reached for the water on the table in front of me.

I took a swallow to clear the taste of vomit from my mouth and promptly sprayed it over the table as another coughing fit hit me. My whole body began to shake and the sweat started to run down my temples and spine.

Dieter just stood there, impassively watching as I recovered from my ordeal. A bottle of water was brought in and I snatched it up, broke the seal and gulped down the cool liquid. I could feel the fluid hitting every cell in my body and I relaxed back into the chair.

"Perhaps we should give you five minutes to compose yourself"

I looked up at him, "whatever it is you want from me, do it now. Let's get this charade over with so you can tell me why I am really here"

He tilted his head and a flicker of a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "Very well, how did you feel when your colleague, Corporal King, was killed?" He said this with the utmost lack of empathy or sympathy, I just looked at him dumbfounded, then angered, and felt ready to tear him apart. Instead I took a deep breath, allowed myself to relax and answered his question.

"How did I feel? I'll tell you exactly how I felt because I am feeling it all over again thanks to you and your bloody mind probe. I was devastated; A-K was my colleague and my friend. He was the only other ex British Army member of our team and I feel as if I have just lost him for the first time."

"In all your dealings with the reptilians since then you have been overly aggressive. Reports show that you would cherry pick the operations against them; more so than the other species that were sent against us. Why did you jeopardise the lives of your team members to satisfy a lust for revenge because this is exactly what it looks like you did!"

"The Snakemen were sadistic and needed dealing with in an aggressive manner. They were very single minded in their approach and I perceived them as more of a threat than even the Mutons. They at least were soldiers that fought and behaved as soldiers should."

"So you have sympathies for the Muton soldier class"

"No sympathy, just an understanding, they are what they are. I just dislike the snakes more. Maybe I just have a deep seated hatred of snakes."

"Hatred? Not fear? Most people would say that they are afraid of snakes"

"I fear very little in life these days, we proved that we can overcome all our fears and succeed, the invasion taught us that. I do not feel fear because I know that people like me will rise to the occasion and find a way to win, no matter the cost."

"Your philosophical outlook is quaint, a hero will appear to face the monster and triumph in the face of adversity. Not always true, ask the Incas and Aztecs, look at the people that have been subjugated during the course of history. Heroes are not always readily available Mr Tyler."

"Are you hungry?" He completely changed tone and tack and I found myself flustered and trying to answer this innocuous question. "You must be in need of something to eat; you have been with us for a while now."

My head was still aching from the effects of the probe and I couldn't think clearly, I just nodded in ascent and rubbed my temples with the heels of my palms. I ran my hands over my face and felt the greasiness and stubble that proved him correct.

Another aide came in with a covered tray; I could smell bacon and buttered toast. Dieter removed the towel and exposed the contents.

"How about a 'Full English', I believe this is what it is called yes?"

I looked over the plate contents, eggs, bacon, sausage, beans and toast. A perfect English breakfast with a mug of tea too.

I looked up at him and nodded, "Someone has been doing their homework" I could feel the saliva forming and my stomach rumbled appreciatively at the coming food.

"Good, we will leave you in peace to eat, I will return once you have finished and we will continue our conversation."

I tucked into the food with gusto that only a gourmet of the full English could appreciate, hiding under the eggs was a succulent slice of black pudding. Dieter suddenly went way up in my good guy list and I sat back savouring the food and finishing my tea.

I was just beginning to feel that all was well with the world when I suddenly felt very heavy and very drowsy. I found it hard to focus and couldn't hold onto a thought for long. Dieter's name hit the bottom of my good guy list with a bang as I realised he had drugged me. The last thought in my mind as I dropped my mug and passed out was "Bastard"


End file.
